For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Honda Passport are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The Chevrolet Equinox doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
Using vehicle speed sensors and seat sensors, smart airbags in the Passport deploy with different levels of force or don’t deploy at all to help better protect passengers of all sizes in different collisions. The Passport’s side airbags will shut off if a child is leaning against the door. The Equinox’s side airbags don’t have smart features and will always deploy full force.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Passport. But it costs extra on the Equinox.
The Passport has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. A system to reveal vehicles in the Equinox’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Passport has standard Cross Traffic Monitor, helping the driver avoid collisions. Chevrolet charges extra for Rear Cross Traffic Alert on the Equinox.
Both the Passport and the Equinox have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, lane departure warning systems and rearview cameras.
The Honda Passport weighs 717 to 988 pounds more than the Chevrolet Equinox. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Honda Passport is safer than the Chevrolet Equinox:
|
Passport |
Equinox |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
149 |
159 |
Neck Stress |
189 lbs. |
190 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
46/243 lbs. |
363/349 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH, results indicate that the Honda Passport is safer than the Chevrolet Equinox:
|
Passport |
Equinox |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
109 |
109 |
Chest Movement |
.6 inches |
1.1 inches |
Abdominal Force |
101 lbs. |
195 lbs. |
Hip Force |
269 lbs. |
357 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
233 |
288 |
Spine Acceleration |
42 G’s |
55 G’s |
Hip Force |
304 lbs. |
630 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.